The lunar laser ranging: operation and science

The advent of optical range measurements on the Moon was made possible 30 y ears ago with the direct exploration of the Moon with manned or automatic m issions which placed several arrays of corner cube reflectors on the lunar surface. Over the last thirty years the precision has regularly improved fr om the similar to 0.25 m range in 1970 to an internal precision of the orde r of one centimeter today and a post-fit accuracy of 3 cm. The principles a re summarized in a first part of the paper, followed by an estimate of the error budget. Statistics of the data produced are then given and show the m ajor role fulfilled today by the French station. A section is devoted to th e data analysis together with a summary of the major scientific results obt ained in selenodesy and fundamental physics. New prospects are opened with a discussion of the the possibility of ranging more efficiently with transp onders on the Moon. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences/Editions scientifiques e t medicales Elsevier SAS.